Unless it was willful negligence, depending on who is the taxpayer and if you are dependent, the primary taxpayer could be able to claim it as a theft loss for taxes. This depends on the value and some other thresholds, but I would at least track down some documentation as to the value of the GPS and possibly save a copy of the police report.

The options in this poll... oh man. I might have understood if you had blamed your friend, but <trying to blame the thief? Thieves don't create opportunities to steal, they take them.
And you can't lay the blame on your friend either. You can't just assume any passenger knows and remembers what to do with your door locks and such. It's your job as the driver to inform them on what do with the car and ensure all of that gets done. It's your loss.

The options in this poll... oh man. I might have understood if you had blamed your friend, but <trying to blame the thief? Thieves don't create opportunities to steal, they take them.
And you can't lay the blame on your friend either. You can't just assume any passenger knows and remembers what to do with your door locks and such. It's your job as the driver to inform them on what do with the car and ensure all of that gets done. It's your loss.

I made it clear in the OP I wasn't blaming my friend, and I've stated quite a few times it was my mistake.

The lock on my doors are like little poles as you described, makes it easy to see if it's locked or not sadly.

That makes sense. I am guessing since your posting this today, that it happened during the weekend when a lot of people are out at night.

I know I leave my car doors unlocked every day. I have a really old car from 1998, and driver door lock is broken. There is nothing in the car to steal but a pack of cigs. Plus, any thief would have one hell of a time trying to figure out how to drive an automatic without a first gear and a trany off center. Only I know how to get the pos moving. My neighborhood is middle class too, so that helps.

I wanted to see others opinions on the topic is all. I like seeing what people think, and I like seeing people's reasoning for why they voted the way they did.

I guess I have such a hard time understanding you or the poll because you have put a cause and an effect in there, put treat them both like causes. Whenever I read your poll, I get the same feeling I get when I look at one of those optical illusion pictures that are physically impossible.

---------- Post added 2012-11-07 at 01:58 AM ----------

Originally Posted by WhyT74

Most thieves only do it because the situation presents itself. You are at fault because you set the situation up. He is at fault because he's a douche bag that would steal from someone.

If there is no opportunity, there is no theft. If there is no theft, there is no thief. Cause and effect.

I had a similar situation, I had my car broken into a couple of months back because I left the passenger door unlocked. I take the blame for it, because without my mistake it wouldn't have happened. Only got my iPod and 3/4ths of a large pizza from where I work though...